Intent

At Oughterside, we believe that the Early Years Foundation Stage provides the foundations for successful learners as they progress throughout their school career. It provides the children with the crucial skills required to establish the types of learners and future citizens that we wish to develop in order to support our community.

The characteristics of effective learning and the prime areas of learning contribute to the success of our children. They encourage the children to be independent, reflective, sociable and well presented. Additionally, these areas also enable the children to apply their knowledge and skills into other areas of their learning and achieve the best that they can.

The specific areas of learning aim to deliver the in depth understanding and fluency required across the children’s reading, writing, phonics and maths.

Implementation

Within the EYFS at Oughterside, we deliver a curriculum that is evenly balanced between play and formal learning which enables the children to learn new skills, knowledge and understanding which they can then transfer into their own learning and play.

Focused learning time is based on reading, writing, phonics and maths where new skills and knowledge is taught by the qualified teachers and supported by Teaching assistants . Children are then given planned independent learning time to demonstrate new skills and knowledge within the enabled environments where we encourage the children to transfer their skills into their play. Children’s play and initiated learning is documented through Tapestry and in books.

Children are able to develop their creativity and uniqueness through the Expressive Arts and Design aspect of the curriculum which is accessible to the children at all times of the day. Similarly, within our enabled environments, children are encouraged to wonder about the world around them and others focusing on Understanding the World.

Impact

The majority of children will meet a ‘good level of development’. The children’s learning is documented in labelled exercise books and uploaded onto Tapestry